posted at 4:44 pm on June 5, 2012 by Allahpundit

Al Qaeda’s deputy leader, Abu Yahya al-Libi, was killed in a drone strike in northern Pakistan, an American official confirmed on Tuesday, in the biggest single success in the controversial campaign’s eight-year history…

Characterizing what the loss would mean to Al Qaeda, the American official said: “Zawahri will be hard-pressed to find any one person who can readily step into Abu Yahya’s shoes — in addition to his gravitas as a longstanding member of AQ’s leadership, Abu Yahya’s religious credentials gave him the authority to issue fatwas, operational approvals, and guidance to the core group in Pakistan and regional affiliates. There is no one who even comes close in terms of replacing the expertise AQ has just lost.”

A “senior Pakistani official” told the Times he had no independent confirmation of al-Libi’s death but other Pakistani intel sources reportedly heard from locals at the scene that he was inside a house in Waziristan when it was hit by a missile. An unnamed Taliban leader who spoke to Reuters called it a “big loss” and said, “After Doctor Sahib (al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri), he was the main al Qaeda leader.” The White House is confident enough in what they’ve heard that Jay Carney saw fit to mention it at today’s briefing. My sense of al-Libi is that he was more like Anwar al-Awlaki than any other prominent AQ chieftain insofar as he was known mainly for his preaching/propagandizing but evidently was an operational mover-and-shaker behind the scenes as well. More from NBC:

Pakistan security reports indicated the pre-dawn strike killed 15 insurgents, with a total of nearly 30 killed in three weekend attacks. A U.S. official challenged those numbers, telling NBC News that the death toll was “less than a handful.”…

U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, characterize him as irreplaceable in his expertise, ability and influence…

In May 2011, shortly after bin Laden was killed, U.S. officials identified Abu Yahya as one of five potential successors to the slain al-Qaida leaders. The leading candidate, Ayman al Zawahiri, ultimately did succeed bin Laden. The other four potential successors now have all been killed in drone strikes.

Have a look at the graphic (from Reuters) that NBC chose to accompany its piece. It actually undersells the success Obama and the CIA have had with drones: Atiyah Abdel Rahman, AQ’s field general, is listed as being at large but he was actually liquidated last year. Ilyas Kashmiri, another jihadi mastermind in the making, was eliminated three months before Atiyah and he’s not mentioned in the Reuters graphic at all. Unless I’m forgetting someone, there are only three big-name Al Qaeda members left. One is Saif al-Adel, who may or may not still be under house arrest in Iran; the second is Adnan al-Shukrijumah, who was identified as a major threat by U.S. officials not long after 9/11 and really hasn’t been seen since; and the third is Zawahiri himself. If the intelligence we’re getting on the ground is now strong enough to let us reach even someone as important as al-Libi, there’s no reason to think Zawahiri will last much longer. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if Petraeus and company already have a hunch where he is and, a la Bin Laden, Obama and his national security team are now weighing whether to use drones or to try to grab him. Another military incursion deep inside Pakistan would risk a permanent rupture of relations, but if he’s hiding in or around a major city, the White House might decide that a blunt instrument like a drone strike is too dicey. Tough call.

Go read this post from lefty Michael Tomasky spiking the football over yet another drone-driven success. It’s important to bookmark stuff like that now, because if/when Romney becomes president, liberal CW on drones will move instantly from appreciation for a surgical counterterror weapon that dismantled Al Qaeda to horror at a brutal automated killer that spares neither the guilty nor the innocent on the ground. It’s coming, so prepare.

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Go read this post from lefty Michael Tomasky spiking the football over yet another drone-driven success. It’s important to bookmark stuff like that now, because if/when Romney becomes president, liberal CW on drones will move instantly from appreciation for a surgical counterterror weapon that dismantled Al Qaeda to horror at a brutal automated killer that spares neither the guilty nor the innocent on the ground. It’s coming, so prepare now.

As I said on a thread last night, it’s amazing how the MSM has made the term “civilian casualties” obsolete since about Jan. 20, 2009.

IMHO it is likely that Zawahiri has some kind of unofficial protection by state authorities. Really, it’s hard to interpret Bin Laden’s former arrangement as anything but that, and there’s no way Zawahiri’s hosts would allow a second breach like that. My money says he stays safe.

The far left has always regarded drone strikes as extra-judicial killings and unlawful but I can’t recall the mainstream press and liberals generally as being against these even when GW was ordering them so I don’t expect a big shift when Romney becomes President.

Jay Carney was already spiking the football at his presser today. So the next time the unemployment numbers come out, and are dismal, Obama will remind everyone of the two-fer and his skill at picking out al Qaida members from his ‘kill’ list.

I can’t help but wonder how much actionable intelligence might have been wrung out of al Libi. But since Gitmo is not accepting any new guests and our intelligence services aren’t allowed to play Sesame Street songs to him, he had to die.

OBOZO’s KILLING the terrorists WITHOUT GETTING A SHRED OF USEFUL INTELLIGENCE is SOOOOOOOO much better than Bush capturing them and getting information to help protect America. And it’s more humane, too, because it doesn’t involve that awful waterboarding !!!!!!!

..OT and and speaking about “hardest hit”, it appears that Obama was the target of another Romney drone, via Drudge. Mitt tells the Detroit News that The Pantload is holding onto GM stock lest their sale result in an embarrassing loss.

How can they be sure if they didn’t get a DNA sample from him and his parents ??

You know waterboarding might not be so bad compared to being blown up by a drone. At least you get room and board, you own Wii, maid service after you are waterboarded. After you get hit by a drone you just get your 72 virgin suicide bombers.

Pakistan security reports indicated the pre-dawn strike killed 15 insurgents, with a total of nearly 30 killed in three weekend attacks. A U.S. official challenged those numbers, telling NBC News that the death toll was “less than a handful.”…

A polite correction to an earler commenter: It was likely a Hellfire missile launched from a Predator UAV.
Of course if you really want to make a statement you pickle an AGM-65 Maverick missile on their azzes. I recall the Laser Maverick (developed for the Marines) had a 136 Kg Composition B warhead.
Launch the missiles, we’ll make more.

It’s important to bookmark stuff like that now, because if/when Romney becomes president, liberal CW on drones will move instantly from appreciation for a surgical counterterror weapon that dismantled Al Qaeda to horror at a brutal automated killer that spares neither the guilty nor the innocent on the ground. It’s coming, so prepare.

Quite frankly, I have mixed emotions about this program.

Is there no sense in getting intelligence from these Al Qaeda operatives? Heck he’s only the number two guy. And collateral damage – what collateral damage? Oh you mean those other folks that died along with him? Guilty by association. While our soldiers are hamstrung with rules of engagement – many of which put their lives in great danger, our beloved leader can call in a drone strike and not be the least bit concerned about the deaths of others in the vicinity.

No, I’ve got very mixed emotions about this new style of warfare.

But maybe this isn’t a good day for introspection – one of my daughter’s closest friends was just murdered by her father. Muddles the mind.

The far left has always regarded drone strikes as extra-judicial killings and unlawful but I can’t recall the mainstream press and liberals generally as being against these even when GW was ordering them so I don’t expect a big shift when Romney becomes President.

lexhamfox on June 5, 2012 at 4:56 PM

Actually, Bush and the US came under heavy criticism for the strikes they carried out, primarily for the fact that the strikes killed large numbers of civilians. Kos and Huffington were especially offended by a strike in 2006 that killed 50-70 kids.

The only reason Bush did not receive more criticism about his drone strikes? He didn’t do nearly as many as O’bama has.

The far left has always regarded drone strikes as extra-judicial killings and unlawful but I can’t recall the mainstream press and liberals generally as being against these even when GW was ordering them so I don’t expect a big shift when Romney becomes President.

Ayman al Zawahiri, okay he’s my choice for who rides the lighting next….If you’re Patraeus, you’re thinking take out Zawahiri, you can demoralize Al Qaida and create a feud between the last two players left for who’s next to take the hot seat. It’s a win – win.

Beautiful silence. The ONE good thing about a liberal president who enjoys nuking terrorists is no screaming media yelling about “cruel heartless capitalists assassinating suffering third world impoverished idealists in order for fat oil tycoons to greedily profit.”

Instead a murdering Muslim thug getting what he deserves and the only sounds are cheering.

It’s lucky Al-Q has got nothing to do with Islam. There would be many other leaders if they were. As it was it took 11 years+ to almost eliminate a teeny tiny fringe group of religion hijackers. What was there, 20 or 30 of them?

So…We endured year after year of the media-driven angst over water boarding. Now, we zap terrorists with no juris-prudence whatsoever, media silent…Don’t get me wrong, I think the armed drones are helping win the war against international jihadists. I’m just pointing out the incredible hypocracy of the our pals in the media, as have many others on this blog and elsewhere…

The far left has always regarded drone strikes as extra-judicial killings and unlawful but I can’t recall the mainstream press and liberals generally as being against these even when GW was ordering them so I don’t expect a big shift when Romney becomes President.

lexhamfox on June 5, 2012 at 4:56 PM

I’d have to respectfully disagree with you on this lexhamfox. The Lame Stream Media got their panties in a wad every single damn time Bush killed any terrorists…and Lord forbid if a single “innocent civilian” was killed in the crossfire. Interesting though, the LSM would even tout civilian deaths when they were obviously Jihadists and would repeat the propaganda the jihadists would spout about “civilian deaths” when it was known these supposed “innocent civilians” were in the same damn house as their target…as they say “don’t lay with dogs if you don’t want to get blowed up!”

Also, where the hell are all the code pinkos? Seriously, when Bush was in office you couldn’t throw a rock without hitting one of those idiots! Always calling Bush a “war criminal” but now it’s as if the code pinkos have disappeared from the face of the earth, and why haven’t they called for Obama to be tried on “war crimes?”

The left have always and will always be hypocrites, it’s all about furthering their ideological goals, truth be damned! I guarantee if Romney is elected and he continues where Obama leaves off the code pinko hypocrite morons will crawl back out from the rocks they crawled under so fast it will make Linda Blair’s head spin again! Only this time it won’t work because we have plenty of ammo on our side to throw back in their hypocritical faces…can’t wait to see them try because they are so utterly dishonest and ignorant they will attempt it!

This guy wasn’t an American citizen. Why would he have Miranda rights?

Bitter Clinger on June 5, 2012 at 5:10 PM

Why? Well that depends on whom you ask…if you ask any sane American with a single functioning synapse the answer would be a resounding “hell no they don’t have miranda rights” but if you ask a lefty liberal thumbsucker the answer would be “just because they’re not American citizens and just because they strap bombs to themselves and kill innocent people doesn’t mean we shouldn’t mirandize them!”

Most liberals think illegal enemy combatants (terrorists) should have miranda rights because they’re clueless morons, however some liberals know these murdering thugs don’t have miranda rights under the US constitution but continue to push the “miranda rights” meme as a means to further their progressive agenda!